1Miami group gets its meeting with Marco Rubio

The aim of the group, called 1Miami, was to meet with Rubio and talk to him about the challenges they've faced as a result of the recession, spokesman Jose Suarez said in an email.They camped out in Rubio's Washington D.C. office (during business hours) for several days in December, but they weren't able to land a meeting. But they finally got their meeting this week, in Washington.

Made up of organized labor, community groups and faith-based organizations, 1Miami began last spring as part of an effort to shift the national debate to the economy and jobs.

This time, though, the 1Miami group met with Rubio for 30 minutes. Suarez said the 1Miami pilgrams were thankful Rubio finally met with them, but that they were very disappointed with what he had to offer. Rubio's story "represents the American Dream," Suarez said. "But he needs to stop talking about his American Dream and start helping us defend ours."

"As Senator Rubio becomes a rising star in his party and prepares to travel around the country to promote his book, Miami is falling to the bottom of the worst lists: the poorest, most corrupt, most miserable, biggest gap between rich and poor and the largest cuts to social services," Suarez said. "We, at 1Miami, invite Senator Rubio to travel back to Miami, instead, and survey the burgeoning and serious problems that have yet to attract the political leadership we need to fix our problems and put our people back to work."